Jeff Zucker: Last News

Mark Thompson, the former CEO of The New York Times Co. and director general of the BBC, is in line to be named the next head of CNN, according to multiple press reports.

Don Lemon made his first extended comments since he was fired from CNN, telling podcast host Kara Swisher that he feels “vindicated” following the exit of CNN leadership after his departure.

Jeff Zucker was breezing through the Faena Hotel in Miami Beach when he spotted David Zaslav across the room. The former CNN chief was there on vacation on March 31, while the current Warner Bros. Discovery CEO was on hand for the Saudi-backed FII Institute’s Global Priority Summit.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Jeff Zucker is not shopping for CNN, according to one of the backing partners of his new media venture. Gerry Cardinale, the private equity player and founder of RedBird Capital, partnered with International Media Investments last year to launch a $1 billion media acquisitions engine run by Zucker. Reports were rampant in June that Zucker was looking to take CNN off the hands of Warner Bros. Discovery, after running the news network for decades before resigning in 2022 over a consensual workplace affair. “No,” Cardinale said on Thursday when asked if he and Zucker were looking to buy CNN, speaking on stage at the Variety and Sportico Sports and Entertainment Summit in West Hollywood. “I would not have the longevity that I’ve had if I ran my business running around town talking about deals in a way that’s, frankly, disrespectful to David Zaslav. I’m kind of amused and irritated by it.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor After spending months keeping CNN from expanding into streaming, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery appears to have changed its mind. Warner Bros. Discovery is exploring ways to get more CNN programing on to its Max streaming service, according to a person familiar with the matter, looking at the news outlet’s broader portfolio to see what content might work. Executives will have to navigate agreements with CNN’s traditional distributors that often require cable and satellite companies get first access to CNN’s live broadcasts. Yet CNN’s rivals have grappled with similar obstacles and found ways to repurpose the news and opinion shows they run. The Fox Nation streaming outlet runs Fox News Channel’s opinion programs a day later. Fox News in 2020 unveiled a new international service that puts its programs in countries such as Mexico and Spain. MSBNC in March of last year unveiled a plan to offer episodes of “Morning Joe,” “Deadline: White House,” “The Beat with Ari Melber,” “The ReidOut,” “All In with Chris Hayes” and MSNBC’s opinion programs on the Peacock streaming hub on-demand the day after they air on cable.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer It’s hard to remember a time when fashion and beauty commentary were not ubiquitous. When red carpet pre-shows for the Oscars or the Met Gala were not the norm, or before anyone with a TikTok or Instagram account could be an obsessive pundit on celebrity style. Steven Cojocaru was there, however, at the beginning of this sartorial saturation. The Canadian writer and TV host, now 50, hustled tirelessly in his early career to get legacy media to take style as seriously as he did. He became People magazine’s first West Coast fashion editor in 1997 and was the first out gay fashion correspondent for NBC’s “Today” during the highly watched Matt Lauer and Katie Couric era.

The abrupt yet not-all-too-surprising exit of Chris Licht from CNN is a bit of a relief for staffers who thought he was the wrong person for the job, but whoever succeeds him at the cable news network will face many of the same headwinds.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Some people only get one chance to run CNN. Amy Entelis is about to embark on her second. The veteran news executive was one of three who took the reins at the Warner Bros. Discovery news outlet when Jeff Zucker, the previous chief, was forced out in February of last year after acknowledging a romantic relationship with Allison Gollust, once CNN’s chief marketing officer. Now Entelis will be part of a new trio leading the news giant after the Wednesday departure of former CEO Chris Licht. The challenges facing CNN have not diminished. Entelis will guide CNN’s news operations along with Virginia Moseley, recently named to oversee editorial operations, and Eric Sherling, recently appointed head of U.S. programming. David Leavy, a longtime Zaslav lieutenant who was named chief operating officer at CNN last week, will oversee business activities. The entire group must keep CNN moving forward as the 2024 presidential election cycle draws near, even as the outlet’s ratings have fallen and its staff has been buffeted by job cuts, programming changes and a seemingly endless cycle of senior executives coming and going.

Chris Licht will be leaving CNN after just one year as chief executive and chairman.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN CEO Chris Licht will leave his post after a little more than a year at the helm after losing the support of staff and enacting a series of chaotic editorial changes under the direction of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. David Zalsalv, CEO of the embattled news outlet, told staffers Wednesday of the decision during CNN’s reglar editorial call, according to two people familiar with the matter. Amy Entelis, a longtime CNN executive who worked with previous chief Jeff Zucker and helps manage talent relations; Virginia Moseley, recenlty named to oversee editorial operations; and Eric Sherling, recently appointed head of U.S. programming, will oversee CNN for an interim period, Zaslav said. David Leavy, a longtime Zaslav lieutenant who was named chief operating officer at CNN last week, will oversee business activities.

CNN Worldwide chairman and CEO Chris Licht addressed the bombshell profile in The Atlantic in comments to network staffers on Monday, telling them, “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN chief Chris Licht told staffers Monday he wants to help them make the news rather than being a central figure in it. In the wake of a devastating profile of the CNN CEO published Friday by The Atlantic, Licht set about soothing frayed nerves Monday by telling employees on the news outlet’s regular morning call that “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you. Your work is what should be written about,” according to two people familiar with the matter, The words are the first from Licht to be made public since the piece was unveiled. Thanks to a rich vein of unfettered access provided over months, the piece detailed the executive’s struggles — and some of his insecurities — during his first year on the job at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed news outlet. David Zaslav, the CEO of the parent company, has articulated a strategy of eliminating some of the activist bent that resounded at CNN under its previous chief, Jeff Zucker. But Licht’s efforts to do so have been plagued by near-constant leaks and a restive staff, many of whom remain loyal to Licht’s predecessor, ousted after he admitted to a longstanding relationship with Allison Gollust, CNN’s former chief marketing officer.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav weighed in on CNN’s controversial decision to host a live town-hall format Q&A with former President Donald Trump — defending the decision as needing to represent “both sides.” “The U.S. has a divided government. We need to hear both voices,” Zaslav said, speaking Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked about Trump’s scheduled May 10 appearance on CNN. “Republicans are on the air on CNN, Democrats are on the air… When we do politics, we need to represent both sides. I think it’s important for America.” Zaslav continued about Trump, “He’s the front-runner — he has to be on our network. We’re happy he’s coming on there.”

Donald Trump will make his first appearance on CNN in many years next week, when he appears in a town hall event sponsored by the network.

Former CNN and NBCUniversal boss Jeff Zucker, private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and Abu Dhabi-based International Media Investments have formalized plans for a joint venture.

Michael Bass, EVP of programming at CNN, is leaving the network at the end of the year.

Jeff Zucker, who left WarnerMedia last February just before its merger with Discovery, is in discussions with RedBird Capital to lead a $1 billion sports investment fund backed by the private equity outfit.

who was fired from CNN over his role in advising his older brother throughout a slew of sexual misconduct scandals — signaled that he did the series of fluffy TV chats on his 9 p.m. show at the behest of his former boss, Jeff Zucker.“This idea that Chris Cuomo had no boss, Chris Cuomo did as he liked when he liked how he liked — these are people who don’t know our business,” Cuomo said in an interview with podcast “On with Kara Swisher.” “Did I think that they should be considered a conflict of interest? Ab initio, inherently all day long,” he continued.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Jake Tapper, Laura Coates and Alisyn Camerota will take on temporary assignments on CNN’s primetime schedule as the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed network prepares to cover the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections. Tapper, CNN’s chief Washington correspondent, will host the network’s 9 p.m. from Washington, while Camerota and Laura Coates will share anchor responsibilities between 10 p.m. and midnight. Tapper is the first anchor to get a semi-regular perch at 9 since the much-scrutinized departure of the time slot’s previous occupant, Chris Cuomo. Camerota. who has held down slots in both the morning and the afternoon, and Coates, a legal analyst who has in thepast been under consideration for a primetime assignment, will take over a time period that has been led by Don Lemon, who is moving soon to work on a new CNN morning program.

John Miller as CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. Miller most recently served as the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism.Prior to that, he worked as a correspondent for CBS News and ABC News, where he landed a rare interview with Osama bin Laden in 1998.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor When Brian Stelter signed off from the last installment of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” Aug. 21, the number of mainstream vehicles analyzing an increasingly confusing media industry shrank even further.  Stelter bid farewell the same day Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan ended her run — asking such notables as Carl Bernstein and Jeffrey Goldberg on air whether the press is doing enough to cover topics ranging from disinformation to climate change. The lead story of his hour was a dire one: his program’s own cancellation after three decades. “It’s going to be on you to hold CNN accountable,” Stelter told viewers in the show’s waning moments, later adding: “The free world needs a reliable source.”